Web accessibility statement

Share this

RNIB's website has been designed with the needs of people with sight problems in mind, including those who use access technology to browse the internet. We have also taken on board international guidance and best practice on web accessibility.

We are committed to ensuring everyone can access our website. This includes people with sight problems, hearing, mobility and cognitive impairments as well as users with dial-up, older browsers or newer technologies such as smartphones and tablets.

If you have any comments and or suggestions about our website please don't hesitate to contact us by emailing digitalteam@rnib.org.uk

The site is tested regularly to ensure that we are working towards the standards. The site also undergoes user testing by blind and partially sighted users.

We test the website using the following browsers:

Windows

Internet Explorer 8, 9 and 10

Chrome 33

Firefox 28

Opera 20

Mac

Chrome 33

Firefox 28

Safari 7

Opera 20

Mobile

Apple iOS - Safari 6 on iOS6 and Safari 7 on iOS7

Android - Default web browser and Chrome 33

Surf Right

RNIB's take on web accessibility has been summarised in the Surf Right standard. This is the result of an intensive work of research aimed to address the most important challenges faced by disabled people.

Most of the guidance and requirements that need to be met to reach the Surf Right standard are based on the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) recommendations. The Surf Right standard is aligned to the WAI Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 (WCAG 2.0).

Main differences with WCAG 2.0

There are some differences in the organisation of guidelines and conformance requirements between Surf Right and WCAG 2.0. Surf Right is similar to WCAG 2.0 Double-A guidance, with the following main differences:

Exclusion of WCAG Double-A requirements: Surf Right does not require two of the more technically challenging WCAG 2.0 Double-A requirements where practical alternatives can be provided.

Inclusion of WCAG 2.0 Triple-A requirements: Surf Right includes some of the higher level requirements of WCAG 2.0, where our experience shows that they are both valid and important to disabled users.

Reliance on client-side script: WCAG 2.0 allows reliance on accessibility supported JavaScript or other client-side script. Surf Right requires that an alternative mechanism is provided for core or important information and functionality.

Additional requirements: Surf Right requires the use or avoidance of some techniques where experience has proved that to do so would significantly improve accessibility. Currently these techniques (called Surf Right Best Practice requirements) aren't specifically mentioned in WCAG 2.0 sufficient techniques or failures.

Image Alt text and accessibility

As standard we only use Alt text where an image conveys essential information for the meaning of the page - for example a diagram about how to do something. Where an image is purely decorative we don't add alt text as this is superfluous information, and extra 'noise' that someone using a screenreader will have to get through before reaching the essential information on a page. Any images which don't have alt text have an empty alt tag which is indicated using "".